Device for inserting products into packaging containers

ABSTRACT

A device for inserting products into packaging containers in a packaging machine has a first continuously driven conveyor device, on which the products can be transported, and a second continuously driven conveyor device, on which the packaging containers can be transported. An insertion device is provided, which has a revolving insertion conveyor device and by which the products an be inserted into the packaging containers in the insertion direction. A pre-insertion unit has a cover device, which can be moved in the insertion direction, and which rests on the products during the insertion movement. The pre-insertion unit has a carriage, which can be moved back and forth using a first drive device along a first linear guide which runs in the movement direction of the first conveyor device. A second linear guide, which runs in the insertion direction and along which the cover device can be moved back and forth using a second drive device, is implemented on the carriage.

The invention concerns a device for inserting products into packaging containers in a packaging machine, having a first continuously driven conveyor device on which the products can be transported, a second continuously driven conveyor device on which the packaging containers can be transported, an insertion device which has a revolving insertion conveyor device and by which the products can be inserted into the packaging containers in the insertion direction, and a pre-insertion device having a cover device which can be moved in the insertion direction and is supported on the products during the insertion movement.

DE-A-198 48 452 discloses a device of the above-mentioned design which is generally used in continuously operating packaging machines which have a first continuously driven conveyor device e.g. in the form of a product chain, on which products such as tubes, bottles or also stacks of blister packaging strips are conveyed. Packaging containers such as folding boxes are transported on a second continuously driven conveyor device e.g. in the form of a folding box chain parallel to the product chain in the main conveying direction. In a transfer area, the two conveyor devices are synchronized with respect to their movements such that the products can be inserted, if necessary together with a leaflet, by means of an insertion device from the product chain into the packaging containers positioned on the folding box chain. The insertion device thereby comprises several insertion plungers which are also moved in the main conveying direction by means of an endless revolving insertion conveyor device e.g. in the form of a chain conveyor, i.e. parallel to the product chain and, for inserting the products, perform an insertion movement perpendicular to their main conveying direction, which is controlled by corresponding curved tracks.

When a stack of products, e.g. blister packaging strips, is inserted, the stack must be stabilized prior to insertion by disposing a cover tongue onto the stack and slightly compressing the stack. Towards this end, a so-called pre-insertion device is provided which comprises a cover device which can be moved in the insertion direction. The cover device has several cover tongues which are mounted to a further endless revolving conveyor. The movement of each cover tongue is controlled in such a fashion that, in a lifted arrangement it is moved over the stack of blister packaging strips and then disposed onto it. The cover tongue then performs, together with the insertion plunger, a coordinated insertion movement, wherein the cover tongue remains in abutment with the stack of blister packaging strips until it is received in the packaging container.

Since the pre-insertion device must be disposed above the insertion device in the insertion area, the conveyor of the pre-insertion device surrounds the conveyor device of the insertion device. In consequence thereof, the insertion device and the pre-insertion device require a very large amount of space both in length and in width. One further disadvantage is that the insertion device and the pre-insertion device are constructively matched such that retrofitting of the pre-insertion device is only possible by exchanging the overall insertion station, i.e. the insertion device as well.

EP-A-1 389 166 discloses a device for inserting products into a packaging machine, in which neither the insertion device nor the pre-insertion device are driven in an endless revolving fashion but are each driven in an oscillating fashion by a servomotor. This construction is complex and expensive and essentially raises the costs, in particular, for a packaging machine of limited sophistication.

It is the underlying purpose of the invention to provide a device of the above-mentioned type, which requires only little space and permits retrofitting of the pre-insertion device.

This object is achieved in accordance with the invention by a device having the features of claim 1. The pre-insertion device thereby has a carriage, which can be moved back and forth along a first linear guidance extending in the direction of movement of the first conveyor device by means of a first drive device, and a second linear guidance extending in the insertion direction is formed on the carriage, along which linear guidance the cover device can be moved back and forth by means of a second drive device.

In accordance with the invention, the insertion device is further formed by an endless revolving insertion conveyor device, which has a plurality of insertion plungers which are displaced in the insertion direction via a cam control. This design is advantageous in that a relatively small acceleration force acts on the products to be inserted, thereby reducing the danger of the stacks, in particular blister packaging stacks, from being shifted or falling over.

The invention is based on the fundamental idea of replacing the currently used endless revolving pre-insertion conveyor device by a carriage which is moved back and forth in a direction parallel to the direction of movement of the first conveyor device of the products. The cover device is disposed within the carriage and is itself moved back and forth in the insertion direction. In this fashion, a so-called X-Y table or a cross-carriage is formed, which requires only little space and, if required, can be replaced or retrofitted at any time. Relatively high acceleration forces act on a corresponding carriage, since the direction is changed quickly in very short intervals. However, these forces do not impair the product and especially not the construction of a product stack, since the movements were already synchronized in the time period in which the cover device acts on the product or the product stack.

The inventive packaging machine combines a continuous revolving, driven insertion device and an oscillatingly driven pre-insertion device. This combination of different drives for the insertion device and also for the pre-insertion device has several advantages:

The continuous revolving driven insertion device permits careful insertion of the products with simultaneous compact construction.

Not every packaging machine requires a pre-insertion device. The inventive combination of different drive types permits disposal of the pre-insertion device onto the insertion device, if required, as a pre-fabricated module.

The insertion device has no servomotor, and for this reason, its construction is inexpensive, simple and functionally reliable, and the combination of different drive types for the insertion device and the pre-insertion device achieves a compact construction such that the packaging machine requires less space.

The cover device advantageously has at least one pre-insertion carriage which can be moved along the second linear guidance. The cover device is thereby preferably not rigidly connected to the pre-insertion carriage but connected thereto via a detachable interconnected coupling. When the packaging machine determines that no product shall be inserted since e.g. the product and/or packaging is/are absent, a trigger means can release the coupling such that the pre-insertion carriage is moved, which is, however, not followed by a movement of the cover device.

It may also happen that, due to an undesired operating state, the cover device meets an obstacle during movement or is blocked in any other fashion. In order to prevent the occurrence of excessive forces and damage to the cover device in this case, in a further development of the invention, the coupling additionally has a locking device which is released upon action of an excessive driving force, thereby releasing the connection.

Conventionally, the cover device can be lowered onto the product and lifted from the product in a direction perpendicular with respect to the direction of movement of the first conveyor device and perpendicular with respect to the insertion direction.

The first conveyor device normally has several cell walls on its upper side, wherein one cell is formed between each neighboring cell walls for receiving at least one product or product stack. During the insertion movement, the cover device is supported on the product or product stack and is thereby at least partially immersed into the cell. In order to be able to return the carriage along the first linear guidance into its initial position, the cover device must be completely retracted from the cell. This is achieved in a preferred embodiment of the invention in that the cover device can be lifted up to above the cell walls and can be moved above the cell walls along the first linear guidance. In this case, the cover device is therefore not initially retracted from the cell against the insertion direction and then moved to its initial position by the carriage, but the cover device is only lifted from the cell which considerably reduces the adjustment path and the time required compared to retraction in a direction opposite to the insertion direction. As soon as the cover device has been disposed above the upper edge of the cell walls, the carriage can return into its initial position in the opposite direction to the main conveying direction, wherein the cover device is retracted in the opposite direction to the insertion direction during retraction of the carriage.

The movement of the carriage along the first linear guidance and the movement of the pre-insertion carriage along the second linear guidance require substantial acceleration and very fast changes of direction and for this reason, a servomotor is advantageously used as the drive device in each case.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cover device has several, in particular two, cover tongues, each of which can be deposited on a product. The two cover tongues are inserted in groups or in pairs into the packaging containers together with the associated products through synchronized movement, which yields high performance.

Further details and advantages of the invention can be extracted from the following description of an embodiment with reference to the drawing.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of the inventive device;

FIG. 2 shows a top view of the device in accordance with FIG. 1 in an initial position;

FIG. 3 shows the device in accordance with FIG. 2 when the cover device has been deposited;

FIG. 4 shows the device in accordance with FIG. 3 during insertion of the product;

FIG. 5 shows the device in accordance with FIG. 4 during retraction of the cover device; and

FIG. 6 shows the device in accordance with FIG. 5 during retraction into the initial position in accordance with FIG. 2.

A device 10 (shown in FIG. 1) for inserting products P into packaging containers FS of a packaging machine has a first continuously driven conveyor device 11 on which a plurality of cell walls 13 are disposed, which are spaced apart from each other. One cell 14 is formed between each two neighboring cell walls 13, into which one of the products P is inserted. The product P may, in particular, be a stack of blister strips or packagings, which must be stabilized during insertion. The first conveyor device 11 is moved in the main conveying direction H as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1.

A second continuously driven conveyor device 12 extends parallel to the first conveyor device 11, on which a plurality of packaging containers FS in the form of folding boxes, which are arranged one behind the other, are conveyed. The packaging containers FS are open on their sides, ready to receive the product P, and are disposed at a separation which corresponds to the separation of the products P on the first conveyor device 11. The first conveyor device 11 and the second conveyor device 12 are moved continuously and synchronously such that the products P and the packaging containers FS do not perform a relative movement at least during the insertion process. Leaflets Z, e.g. so-called instruction leaflets, are disposed between the products P and the packaging containers FS, are taken along by the product during insertion of the product, and are introduced into the packaging container FS.

An insertion device 15 is disposed on the front side (according to FIG. 1) of the first conveyor device 11 facing away from the second conveyor device 12, which has an endless revolving insertion conveyor device 19 which is moved parallel to the main conveying direction H and is only schematically shown. A plurality of plungers 18 are disposed transversely with respect to this direction of movement, each of which has one thrust plate 16 at its free end facing the first conveyor device 11 or the products P. The insertion conveyor device 19 is associated with cam controls 17 (see FIG. 2) by means of which the plungers 18 are laterally pushed out at predetermined stages of movement and brought into abutment with the associated product P by the thrust plate 16. During further movement, the product P is moved from the cell 14 of the first conveyor device 11 into the neighboring associated packaging container FS, thereby taking along the leaflet Z.

A pre-insertion device 20 is disposed above the insertion device 15. The pre-insertion device 20 comprises a substantially horizontally aligned supporting plate 31 on which a rail 32 is mounted which extends parallel to the main conveying direction H and forms a first linear guidance 22. A carriage 21 can be linearly displaced along the first linear guidance 22 and is driven by means of a first drive device 23 in the form of a servomotor. The carriage 21 has a frame shape with two transverse supports 33 which are disposed at a separation from each other in the main conveying direction H and are oriented transversely thereto, and on each of which a second linear guidance 27 is formed which extends transversely to the main conveying direction H and parallel to the insertion direction of the plungers 18 of the insertion device 14. A pre-insertion carriage 29 is disposed on each second linear guidance 27 in such a fashion that it can be displaced in a longitudinal direction and is connected to a cover device 24 via a coupling 30. Each cover device 24 has a rod-shaped tongue holder 25 which extends in the insertion direction and has on the lower side a plate-shaped cover tongue 26 at its front end facing the first conveyor device 11. In the illustrated embodiment, the products P are inserted in pairs for which reason two tongue holders 25 and two cover tongues 26 are provided.

Each pre-insertion carriage 29 together with the associated tongue holder 25 and the cover tongue 26 mounted thereto can be moved back and forth along the second linear guidance 27 by a second drive device 28 in the form of a servomotor, i.e. can be inserted into the respectively neighboring cell 14 of the first conveyor device 11 and be retracted therefrom.

The cover device 24 can additionally be lowered onto the product perpendicularly with respect to the main conveying direction H and perpendicularly to the insertion direction, and be lifted from the product which is preferably realized by means of a control cam.

An insertion cycle is explained below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6. In the position of FIG. 2, the carriage 21 is located in a position which is retracted to a relatively large degree in a direction opposite to the main conveying direction H. Each insertion plate 16 of the two plungers 18 abuts one of the associated products P located in the cells 14. Each cover tongue 26 of the cover device 24 is supported on the upper side of the associated product P or is located slightly above the product P. The movement of the carriage 21 in the main conveying direction H along the first linear guidance 22 is synchronized with the movement of the products P and the packaging containers FS or the movement of the first conveying device 11 and the second conveying device 12, such that there is no relative movement between the first conveyor device 11, the second conveyor device 12 and the carriage 21 for a short period, which is also illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5.

While the carriage 21 is being moved along the first linear guidance 22, the plungers 18 of the insertion device 15 are laterally pushed out via the control cam 17, thereby simultaneously moving two products P out of their respective cells 14 towards the associated packaging container FS. At the same time, the cover tongues 26 disposed on the respective product P are moved synchronously with the plungers 18 in the insertion direction by moving the pre-insertion carriages 29 along the second linear guidance 27. The front edge of the cover tongues 26 facing the packaging containers FS thereby abuts the leaflet Z, which is disposed in front of the opening of the packaging container FS, either at the same time as the product or preferably shortly before the associated product P. This state is shown in FIG. 3. The two products are subsequently inserted into the respective packaging container FS thereby carrying along one leaflet Z each, wherein the front ends of the cover tongues 26 are also immersed into the respective packaging container FS. This state is shown in FIG. 4.

When the product P has at least partially entered the packaging container FS, it is stabilized by the packaging container during further movement. The cover device 24 is no longer required for the further insertion process, and consequently the cover tongues 26 are retracted while the plungers 18 of the insertion device 15 simultaneously continue to insert products P, wherein the cover tongues 26 are still within the cells 14 of the first conveyor device 11. This state is shown in FIG. 5.

During retraction of the cover devices 24, the cover devices are lifted out of the cells 14 perpendicularly with respect to the main conveying direction H and perpendicularly to the insertion direction, i.e. in an upward direction, until they are disposed above the upper edge of the cell walls 13. As soon as this state has been reached, the carriage may be moved back along the first linear guidance 22 into its retracted initial position, wherein the cover tongues 26 are disposed above the cell walls 13, as is illustrated in FIG. 6. When the carriage 21 has reached its retracted initial position in accordance with FIG. 2, it is moved again in the opposite direction, wherein its movement is synchronized with the movements of the first and second conveyor devices 11, 12. Subsequent thereto, the above-explained cycle is repeated. 

1-7. (canceled)
 8. A device for inserting products into packaging containers in a packaging machine, the device comprising: a first conveyor device, said first conveyor device being continuously driven and structured to transport the products; a second conveyor device, said second conveyor device being continuously driven and structured to transport the packaging containers; an insertion device having a revolving insertion conveyor device, said insertion device being structured to insert the products into the packaging containers in an insertion direction; and a pre-insertion device having a cover device which can be moved in said insertion direction and which is supported on the products during insertion thereof, said pre-insertion device having a carriage which can be moved back and forth through cooperation with a first drive device along a first linear guidance extending in a direction of movement of said first conveyor device, a second linear guidance, which extends in said insertion direction, being formed on said carriage, wherein said cover device can be moved back and forth along said second linear guidance through cooperation with a second drive device.
 9. The device of claim 8, wherein said cover device has at least one pre-insertion carriage which can be moved along said second linear guidance, said cover device being connected to said pre-insertion carriage via a detachable coupling.
 10. The device of claim 9, wherein said coupling has a locking device which is released in response to an excessive drive force.
 11. The device of claim 8, wherein said cover device can be lowered onto the product and lifted from the product, perpendicularly with respect to a direction of movement of said first conveyor device and perpendicularly with respect to said insertion direction.
 12. The device of claim 11, wherein said first conveyor device has several cell walls on an upper side thereof, one cell being formed between each neighboring cell walls for receiving at least one product, wherein said cover device is structured for lifting above said cell walls and for motion above said cell walls along said first linear guidance.
 13. The device of claim 8, wherein said first and said second drive devices comprise servomotors.
 14. The device of claim 8, wherein said cover device has a plurality of cover tongues, each of which can be deposited onto a product and be inserted with the product into the packaging container with a synchronized movement thereof. 